Montréal International Fireworks Competition Reports

A First Walk On The Moon

Designed by Paul Masson; FireOne Firing with 122 32-cue modules

BEM were fortunate to avoid thunderstorms which circled Montreal during the late afternoon and early evening of their fourth participation in Montreal, with perfect weather, and wind, conditions for the display itself.

Marc had promised a strong start and that was indeed the case, the first song ending with finalé-like intensity. Narrative elements of the Apollo program (from Kennedy promising to go to the moon, the launch countdown and audio between mission control and the Apollo-11 crew as well as Neil Armstrong’s famous speech on walking on the moon) were cleverly interwoven into the soundtrack, though in a couple of places the music was a tad loud. The soundtrack itself certainly captured the spirit of the times, as Marc had also promised, and it was well done though one or two of the transitions were a little bit fast.

The pyrotechnic design was somewhat simplistic, though, again as Marc had mentioned in the interview, as there were no special effects, not structures nor anything out of the ordinary. It was a bit disappointing that nothing was done with the launch countdown narration nor anything to mark the launch in Space Oddity – I would have expected at least some flights of girandolas. As there were no pontoons nor use of ramp 4, the range of effects was a bit limited, though BEM used many very colourful slice cakes which contained all sorts of different products, a memorable one being serpents bursting to bombettes of strobes. Synchronization was good throughout, but there were places in the music where the rhythms suggested they be marked with fireworks and this was not the case.

The products used throughout were of good quality with bright colours and interesting effects and the firing patterns were sky-filling, thanks especially to the fan cakes of bombettes and wide fans of shells on ramp 2. I did find some of the tableaus a bit similar, though, ending in mini-finales of kamuros. In fact, there were quite a few finales throughout the display, creating an expectation on the real finale that wasn’t met unfortunately. Whilst the finale was good, it didn’t distinguish itself enough from some of the other intense moments in the display.

Overall this was a well-done and very enjoyable display – particularly for the off-site audience due to the shell sequences used. The theme was interesting and the soundtrack was well done, cleverly weaving in the narrative sections. The audience certainly enjoyed it but I think the design was just a bit too ordinary for the level of competition this year.

Sprite of the Jungle

Designed by Stephen Pelkey and Matthew Shea; Pyrodigial firing with over 500 FM-16 modules and ~7000 cues’ VisualShowDirector scripting

For their fourth appearance in Montreal (previously Atlas had competed in 1995, 2003 and won the Gold Jupiter in 2012), the team were blessed with perfect summer weather and, despite the mid-week slot, a large and enthusiastic audience. The showers and thunderstorms that had been threatening for the previous two days failed to materialize, allowing the crew to assemble this large and complex display.

This was a highly anticipated display, especially given the presence of the vaunted “Maltese Tower” so it’s worth discussing this first. For various reasons, it was not successful. Though the wind was in a good direction, the location of the tower on ramp 2 allowed the smoke from ramp 3 to somewhat obscure it from time to time. The wheels on the top of the tower were generally successful, though the products struggled to fire vertically with enough oomph to give a symmetrical effect. The modules on the side of the tower firing horizontally were not successful. I wasn’t able to discern any patterns at all and the products were just too small to be really visible against the shells above and one-shots from ramp 3. In the end, I think it would have been better if all of the horizontal firing product had been placed on ramp 5.

The soundtrack was really well done with excellent mixing and transitions between songs with a good variety of pace and rhythm and without the feel of being a clichéd “Disney Children’s” soundtrack. The audience definitely enjoyed it too, especially those who have children. I was disappointed in some of the sequences, though, where the music was very rhythmic but the fireworks chosen were items like falling leaves and other effects that are not really time-cued. At other times, I found there wasn’t sufficient interplay between low-level and high-level effects, especially in some places where there were just volleys of three shells being repeatedly fired.

The products used in the display were outstanding, except for those mentioned on the tower. Fantastic colours and effects and the 12″ Italian shells from Guilliani were breathtaking. Kudos to Stephen for designing these into the show in such as way as we could appreciate their magnificence! It was also great to see so many studatas as well as the interesting ghost-effect shells.

Synchronization was perfect throughout with many on-the-note sequences (though I missed seeing the position-accurate piano sequence Stephen had mentioned to me). However, I had reported on the Atlas display in 2012:

I also noted that the synchronization, though good and consistent, was just off by a fraction of a second. Maybe this was due to the distance I was from the sound system – perhaps further back (with a longer audio delay) it was right on.

I noticed the same issue again this time. At least it was consistent throughout the display. However, the sequencing of giant hearts rising from ramp 3 was really great and caused gasps of amazement from the audience!

The finale, as expected, was magnificent and was by far the longest of the season so far and was done with great taste so we could appreciate all the Guilliani shells in their glory, as well as the brilliant one-shot sequences below. The audience were deafened by alternating volleys of whistles and cannonades and rose to their feet and cheered and gave the team a well-deserved standing ovation.

This was an excellent display and is a very strong contender for a Jupiter, despite my criticisms above. The team had worked hard to put on this massive display, having a late start due to a slow border crossing. Five days goes by very quickly when something this complex has to be assembled and it’s kudos to the team for what they achieved.

Stay Tuned

Designed by Pedro Gonçalves Concept by Vitor Machado – FireOne UltraFire firing with 190 modules and ~5500 cues

For their fifth participation in Montreal (2002 (silver Jupiter), 2005, 2008, 2012 (silver Jupiter)), Grupo Luso were fortunate to have perfect weather for their complex display, with just enough wind to disperse the smoke. The large audience had high expectations, given Luso’s reputation for creativity (a suspended ring in 2002, a dome in 2005 and “pendulums” in 2012) and were rewarded with a 20m diameter floating truss, as well as a platform on the lake near the audience for a DJ.

As expected, this was a complex display with many interesting details scattered throughout the display. As the theme was music from TV shows some structure had been created by grouping these into thematic elements. But, outside of this structure, there were inserted humorous touches, such as the run of fast horizontal gerbs across ramp three to the iconic “meep meep” sound of the roadrunner from the famous cartoon. Other elements included rotating gerbs on the circle and the tellytubbies’ symbols fired as one shots – though these weren’t as successful as the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 countdown earlier in the show. Letter mines spelling out HEL LOO worked very well during the tellytubbies segment. Luso’s famous gold kamuro comets to blue mines forming a breaking wave sweeping across ramp 3 were employed to great effect during the Blue Planet sequence. Girandolas were used during the X-Files music and I was happy to see the flights of rockets used.

The soundtrack was extremely well edited and put together with everyone knowing at least some of the music, though there were some omissions of classic TV theme tunes (Cheers, Hawaii Five-O to name but two). The inclusion of snippets of narration as “news breaks” to the music from the BBC World News were also very well done and added to the entertainment value. However, I found the DJ section at the end of the display, though well sequenced pyrotechnically, somewhat unrelated to the theme, even though it was pointed out to me afterwards that this represented the musical guests typical of late night TV shows. The DJ looked tiny on the lake and the spot lights were used at the wrong time at one point. I would have preferred a slightly shorter display and a better balance between low and high level effects.

This was definitely a show for the audience at La Ronde, with an emphasis on creative one-shot firing patterns (which were extremely well done with perfect synchronization). I found the high-level effects were good sometimes, but lacking in other places, with too much reliance on triplets of scrambling comet shells. A site like La Ronde needs large calibre shells and this is an area Luso typically lack. For a La Ronde audience, this is less important, but I have a feeling the people off-site would have been less impressed with this display.

All criticism above aside, this was most certainly an excellent display. The soundtrack was fantastic, given the difficulty imposed by the theme and all the creative touches in the display certainly added a lot. The finale was powerful, but that lack of large calibre shells does take a little bit away. The audience definitely loved the display and gave the team a well deserved standing ovation. Most definitely a contender for a Jupiter, but there’s still some strong participants yet to shoot!

One Step – Moon Dream

Designed by Antonio Parente; FireMaster firing with 163 24-cues modules and ~3900 cues

Returning for their second presentation in Montreal ( last competing in 2003) Parente Fireworks Group, with the assisstence of the Quebec company Apogée (under the direction of Alain Carbonneau), were blessed with perfect weather conditions with clear skies featuring a crescent moon in the centre of the display area, fitting exactly with their theme.

The display begin with very wide shell firings of white strobes, with mines of the same beneath. Some of the shells burst into crescent shapes, emphasizing the theme very well.

This theme of essentially a wide fan of shells was used quite a lot throughout the display together with a similar firing pattern of comets and mines across ramp 3. The ramp 5 pontoons formed an inverted V (contrary to my interview report) and added an extra dimension as the platforms also contained flashpots, gerbs as well as fans of one-shots.

In general, there was a wide variety of rhythm and pace and this allowed Parente’s high-quality products to be seen clearly, especially as the air was so clear, emphasizing the bright colours. Many shells were bi-colour and there were interesting effects shells with “ghost effects” ending in circles of crackle or just quadrants changing colour in sequence. Parente’s studata shells were well represented too.

Synchronization was good, especially in the segments that used the dazzling photoflash effects, but some of the tableaux were rather simplistic in design and were not so well connected with the music. The firing patterns were repetitive and the lack of nautical effects was disappointing (compared to the dramatic ones in their 2003 display) though this was made up for, to some extent, by the shape of ramp 5.

At some points during the display, I felt there was too little activity – a few times there were just a couple of shells and a fan of three stars, leaving me feeling that there was just not enough oomph in the display, with even the exciting parts not rising to quite the level I would have hoped. The finale resolved this to some extent, but was rather short, leaving a bit of an anti-climatic feeling (as expectations are always high for Italian finales).  All said, it was a very well done display but I suspect will not reach the level of some of the very strong contenders still waiting to perform.

Dreaming in Montreal

Designed by Duyeon Yoon; PyroDigital Firing with 350 FM-16 modules and ~4500 cues

For their company’s fourth participation in Montreal, the Korean team were blessed with perfect weather for their five day setup as well as for the evening of the display, though the wind direction did cause some smoke accumulation for the audience at La Ronde, though it was never thick enough to obscure the view. The audience were eagerly anticipating the effects that would be produced from the tallest crane ever used during a competition – an impressive 72m high (which compares with the 60m of the Grande Roue).

After a slow start due to narration, the display kicked off into high gear with very impressive sequences of one-shots along ramp 3. The design was interesting, especially with the use of the ramp 5 pontoons where we saw line rockets as well as interesting patterns of horizontally fired mines. On ramp 3, we also had fans of one-shots aimed at the audience – similar to how Dragon Fireworks, from The Philippines, had done last year with slice cakes.

The 4m poles along ramp 3 were put to good use with gerbs that fired patterns in squares and crosses as well as being used for coloured bengals. The audience were surprised by the nautical cakes which filled the lake completely – to within a few metres of the front row of the audience.

The shells used were very high quality and it was good to see some segmented “ghost shells” as well as other interesting effects. I particularly liked the large smiley faces which transformed into huge red hearts – something I’ve not seen before. Synchronization to the music was excellent and the transitions between songs were done well, though a few times I found the periods of dark sky were just a bit too long, leading me to think there might be a technical problem.

And now the crane! With the circles of one shots being so high in the air, the comets could fire around the full 360^o without touching the ground – giving a perfect circle. We saw interesting three-bladed spinning fans of shots as well as spirals and other patterns. All were exceedingly well done, but it was a pity there couldn’t have been more. The supporting effects from ramp 3 and shells above allowed enough space to fully appreciate the patterns. There was also a large “Niagara Falls” suspended from the crane – more in the shape of a Mt Fuji than the actual falls and it all fired perfectly – though was pretty smoky (especially as the wind was towards the audience).  While it was firing, the top half of the one-shot slices on the crane also fired above giving an interesting effect.

Another interesting effect was the use of a remote-controlled plane of some kind that was lit up with white LEDs to look like a large bird. This flew around over the lake and then, after a few loops, golden gerbs started to fire. Somehow these must have unbalanced the vehicle and it plunged into the lake, though the pyrotechnics continued to fire leading many in the audience around me to assume this was the intended effect.

The finale was excellent and powerful and there were quite a few powerful moments throughout the display, but I found in a couple of places there could have been a bit more dynamic range and, at times, I felt the display was weaker than the music dictated and there were some periods of darkness that lasted just a bit too long. A few technical problems on the right hand side of ramp 3 also didn’t help. At the end of the display, the audience rose to their feet and gave the team a well deserved standing ovation! It was certainly a very creative and entertaining display, but I suspect will come up against some stiff competition later on this season.

Two sets of early evening thunderstorms threatened to dampen the opening of the 35the season of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition. Mother Nature, however, smiled upon La Ronde as the clouds cleared away to a magnificent sunset as the precursor to the return of Hands Fireworks after an absence of 34 years.

Despite the weather, the grandstands were almost full (using a new general admission seating process which seemed to work well enough) and the audience were treated to a fantastic soundtrack with all the pieces dating from 1985, a year I remember vividly!

The display was energetic throughout, especially in the use of the lake with many nautical shells and cakes of all types (from multi-coloured bengals through star mines and shells of colour and glitter). The audience thoroughly enjoyed the soundtrack with cheers throughout the display – especially during Prince’s Purple Rain segment, when the sky was filled with purple falling leaves shells with mines of purple stars below. The audience were surprised, and warmed, by the barrages of large fireballs during Duran Duran’s A View to a Kill when the lyric repeated “dance into the fire”. I discovered afterwards that each fireball was produced by 2 gallons of gasoline lifted from a 6″ mortar.

There were some technical difficulties here and there, with asymmetries appearing – presumably because of the sharp thunderstorm with heavy rain that had passed through mid-afternoon. The design itself was a bit simplistic, but the use of mines was enjoyable. Some of the transitions between the songs were a bit too abrupt, too, exacerbated by cakes that were reluctant to finish firing on time (also presumably affected by the rain). The finale was magnificent, with huge bombardments of salutes, gold shells, mines and nautical shells. The audience cheered as the 35th season was well and truly inaugurated!

Official Results of the 34th Edition of the Montreal International Fireworks Competition

• Gold Jupiter – Dragon Fireworks (The Philippines)
• Silver Jupiter – steyrFire (Austria)
• Bronze Jupiter – Pyrotecnico (United States)
• Soundtrack Award – Dragon Fireworks (The Philippines)
• Green Achievement – steyrFire (Austria)

Despite the threat of heavy rains and some heavy showers throughout the evening, the grandstands at La Ronde were full for the awards ceremony. All three of the laureates produced excellent displays with two of the companies (Dragon and steyrFire) competing for the first time. Many people expected Pyrotecnico to pick up the Silver Jupiter, but their display was hampered by heavy smoke accumulation and the jury can only rate what they can see. Dragon Fireworks were clearly the audience’s favourite, just based on the reaction in the Grandstands and deserved to win the Gold as well as the best soundtrack awards. Despite the rains, the audience say back and enjoyed:

For Your Eyes Only

Designed by Michael Lutz; produced in collaboration with Panzera SAS; FireOne firing with over 6000 cues and Finale Fireworks visualizations

This out-of-competition closing display featured a tribute to James Bond and included clips from all of the actors who had played the role over the past 50 or so years. With brilliant products and exquisite use of all of the space of the display area – especially ramp 5 – the audience were treated to an extremely well produced and enjoyable closing display. Great sequences highlighted the music and lyrics perfectly – through gold glitter during “Gold Finger” and twinkling waterfall shells during “Skyfall”. Dramatic screaming whistles fired from ramp 5 were a huge crowd pleaser, as was the thunderous finale and the use of beautiful Italian studatas and farfalles throughout the display. Despite the rain, there was sufficient wind to remove the smoke and the audience returned home after a great 34th season with an announcement that the 35th edition would be running in 2019.

The debutante Italian team was blessed with perfect weather for their setup, but, once again, mother nature threatened to upset proceedings on the night of the display. There had been promise of a severe thunderstorm watch for most of the afternoon and early evening, but the trajectory was moved north of Montreal. That didn’t stop us from watching the radar. At showtime, the sky was cloudy but dry, though some very light rain started at around 10:17pm. A few minutes after the show ended, the heavens opened to torrential rain for a good 30 minutes! Fortunately, the moderate breeze throughout the display served to move the smoke away.

For the first time in many years (the participations of Sunny International with Eric Tucker as the designer are the closest similar occurrences), this display was produced as a collaboration between Giuliani and Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks whose Michael Lutz acted as the chief designer and source of products. This was due to the last minute invitation to Giuliani to compete after it became clear that Howard and Sons would be unable to ship their display on time for their August 1st competition slot. Given the short timeline to assemble a soundtrack and design a show, it was an interesting achievement, especially since, unusually for a manufacturer, most of of the products were sourced from other companies.

Michael Lutz and Marco Giuliani should be congratulated on putting together a competition-level display in such a short period of time. The products used were bright, colourful and diverse, though perhaps with an over-reliance on strobe shells (though many of these were the excellent ICON brand from Foti). The pyromusical design was very well done with excellent use made of all the available space and firing positions, including ramp 5 together with nautical shells and cakes. For those companies who shy away from using nauticals when ramp 5 is in use – this, and other displays this year prove that it is possible.

It was enjoyable to see so many studatas and farfalles in use – and all of these were Giuliani products. Rozzi’s renowned skymines were also featured, as well some very old consumer fireworks that gave the appearance of mini-girandolas fired from ramp 5. Speaking of girandolas, several types were used in the display, including some that fired stars as they ascended. Michael had mentioned in the interview that he was particularly looking forward to The Barber of Seville and this, to me, was one of the most enjoyable segments in the entire display. The finale was interesting in that the “classic Italian” part with silver rain and thunderous salutes occurred before the very end of the display, leaving for a more serene, but sky-filling, ending which brought great cheers from the audience.

All in all, this was a very good display and is a serious contender for the Bronze Jupiter! Kudos to Giuliani and Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks for pulling this off at such short notice!

Rock Loves redux …

Designed by Rocco Vitale, with Matt Wood , Jason Farrell, Phillip Stewart and Stephen Vitale; soundtrack design by Todd Marcocci; PyroDigital firing with 695 FM-16 firing modules, 24 field controllers and 8952 cues; ShowDirector scripting and visualization.

Pyrotecnico were blessed with perfect weather during the setup of their second show in Montreal, their return keenly anticipated after their Gold Jupiter winning debut in 2008. With a similar theme, the level of anticipation was very high, especially given the news in the interview that this display would be one of the most complex ever fired in Montreal.

Alas, Mother Nature decided to try and spoil the proceedings. An extremely isolated thunderstorm targeted La Ronde around 8pm, with lightning striking close to the firing site and absolutely torrential rain for about 15 minutes, together with microburst-level winds. Your humble reporter was soaked to the skin whilst sheltering under a tree (which is not advisable during a thunderstorm). Once the rain had stopped, it quickly became apparent that the setup had been affected, with at least two of the tower structures now leaning to the right. Crew could be seen on ramp 3 and they were able to restore these to their correct vertical orientation. However, given the massive puddles around La Ronde, many of use were fearful of other damage this storm could have causes.

Our fears were exacerbated around 9:30 when a few shells launched. During the next few minutes, other products fired from different positions. For experience pyrotechnicians, this left us with a feeling of absolute dread. How much of the show would be affected? Would it even fire correctly at all? With 695 firing modules and 24 field controllers, with only a few minutes before showtime, we feared that it would be impossible to rectify and faults caused by the storm.

When the countdown came to an end, there was a collective sigh of relief as the show seemed to start properly (save for some missing candles in a fan on the right hand side and a few missing shells here and there). After a couple of minutes, our fears subsided and it became apparent that all was well (though there was always a feeling at the back of our minds that problems would crop up later on).

The show began with the same song as Pyrotecnico’s original Rock Loves show in 2008. It’s worth repeating the lyric:

“Welcome back, my friends / To the show that never ends / We’re so glad you could attend / Come inside! Come inside! [...] Come inside, the show’s about to start / Guaranteed to blow your head apart / Rest assured you’ll get your money’s worth / The greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth / You’ve got to see the show, it’s a dynamo / You’ve got to see the show, it’s rock and roll.”

As this piece ended to a thunderous volley of salutes, shells and runs of one shots, the audience roared their approval. This was going to be a fantastic show. And so it was! Mother nature, on the other hand, decided that smoke should be directed slowly towards the audience, this being exacerbated by the increased humidity following the downpour. Very quickly it became difficult to see the brilliant colours and effects of the low-level ramps and, indeed, the shells very clearly. Rocco had promised each song would have its own palette and feel, and I’m sure they did, but it was difficult to make out what these were sometimes.

The pyromusical design was both simple and complex at the same time. Many times there would be something happening at every level, from small flames at the bottom all the way up to massive shells above. But, at other times, there would be just flights of shells. Some of the songs felt like a complete display in themselves, ending with a mini-finale, but others were more integrated into the soundtrack. The arches and towers were used very effectively, with the arches providing firing angles that were essentially less than zero degrees. I’ve seen other companies use arches but they end up just looking like larger fans – the design here was superior. The smaller vertical towers were used for horizontal left/right mine sequences, as well as fast running sequences of horizontal gerbs running from left to right. The 13 pontoons forming ramp 5 were in a large U shape and gave more depth than is usually the case, with the use of many gerbs being really effective. Another simple, but brilliant, effect was that of “1×60″ gerbs fired on an axle, giving a quick pulse of rotating sparks from the larger towers. Also, despite the use of ramp 5, nautical products were evident from bengals, through fountains and to large nautical shells, causing gasps from the audience.

The display featured a very wide dynamic range, from full-on finale-style endings to much more serene pieces. For example, The Sound of Silence began quietly with flares of various colours coming to life on ramp 3, ramp 5 and the towers. As the climax was reached, there were dozens of large fountains burning on ramps 3 and 5, together with nautical fountains, shells of photoflash above and sequences of flames below. The close proximity of ramp 4 made the V-shaped fountains there seem particularly large.

The penultimate segment gave the impression of being a faux finale, the sky being filled with comets from every position at the end. A particularly long pause between the end of this music and the real finale (to the aptly titled “Shoot to Thrill” by AC/DC) emphasized this feeling.

The actual finale was as grandiose and spectacular as we had anticipated, culminating in the loudest volley of salutes I can remember in the past 20 years. Everyone’s ears were literally ringing and the audience jumped to their feet to give the team a well-deserved standing ovation!

This display will definitely be on the podium and it was a shame that the smoke accumulation prevented from seeing some of the finer design details. A few small criticisms – to my mind, there was too much repetition of flame effects and there were times when there was a disconnect between the upper and lower levels (a few times there were just volleys of shells). Also, there were more errors in the shells fired than I expected, plus some missing here and there (though that was almost certainly due to the weather). All in all, though, these criticisms are small, especially given the complexity of the display. The soundtrack was fantastic, with a wider range of rhythm and pace than I had anticipated. I suspect the final determination of Gold versus Silver Jupiters for Pyrotecnico and Dragon Fireworks will be down to the jury’s appreciation of their respective soundtracks (plus the weather is bound to have some influence). What a competition this year!

Rocco kindly provided these statistics for the show:

Shell count: 4947

3″ Shells	3″ Finale Shells	4″ Shells	4″ Finale Shells	5″ Shells	5″ Finale Shells	6″ Shells	6″ Finale Shells	8″ Shells	10″ Shells
481	1650	1021	270	436	345	475	168	88	8

Single shot devices: 7464

4″ mines	4″ nautical shells	One shots	Gerbs	Strobe pots
40	32	6831	526	35

Multi shot devices: 695

Plates	Candles	Slice cakes	Cakes	Nautical cakes
301	127	159	85	23

Miscellaneous devices: 30

Girandolas
30

Of Games and Thrones

Designed by Vander Tenedero with Don Miguel and Olivier Zeng (for the Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones and This Is Me segments). FireOne firing with 9525 cues.

The Filipino team were blessed with perfect weather for their debut in Montreal. Indeed, since their arrival in Montreal on June 29th, the weather was hot and dry. Their early arrival was to mitigate the problems they’d had shipping their show from Manila – in the end they had to re-order all the 1.3g material from Europe and even that shipment had some problems, leaving them to scramble to source product locally in Canada and the US (though most of their 1.1g material was ordered through ACE Pyro anyway). La Ronde graciously gave the team extra time in between other teams pre-montage periods in order to sort and label their show prior to the official five day setup period.

Fortunately, with a large crew and some overtime, the massive display was almost 100% completely setup in time for display-time. Expectations were high due to the complexity of the show, as revealed in the interview – with a record-breaking 9525 cues (beating the 9000 used by RICASA in 2016 and the 8727 used by Pyroemotions/PyroDigit Team in 2013). It is no mean feat to setup such a complex display.

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about the soundtrack, especially as I’m not a video games aficionado, but my skepticism was soon tempered following a very powerful opening to the theme from Mortal Kombat. The colour scheme used was a nod to the flag of the Philippines, too. The Super Mario Brothers segment was extremely well done, with ring shells firing exactly on the “hits” of the actual video game. Others have written in more detail about how well all of the classic video games were rendered into pyrotechnics.

The synchronization and sequencing used throughout the display was outstanding, with great use made of photoflash runs. Despite the large numbers of one-shots, the patterns did not become repetitive and there was enough variety of product to further reduce the feeling of repetition.

Another very positive aspect was the interplay between the different levels of the display – from low-level effects on ramps 3 and 5, through mid-level to shells above. All possible angles were used and there was always a good balance between the different layers with excellent choice of colours and effects.

Despite the large number of cues – and I remember commenting at the 10 minute point that we were only ten minutes in, there were was a great variety in rhythm and pace. Serene moments with fleur-de-lys type fountains built in intensity until the sky was filled. Even though ramp 5 was used, large nautical shells were still fired in several segments. Several segments ended at an intensity equivalent to a full finale in other displays, yet it never felt overloaded.

By about the 20 minute point, I was worried that the display could possibly run out of steam – this has been the case before with very complex displays where most of the cues end up being used in the first half, leaving the second half feeling more simplistic. I should not have worried! At no point did it feel that there was going to be a shortage of complexity.

The faux and real finales were simply outstanding. Given the intensity of the earlier parts of the display, I worried that the finale might seem anti-climactic. Again, I should not have worried. Essentially the finale began around the 25 minute mark with incredible sequences of brilliant fan-slice cakes that were aimed at the audience across ramp 3, creating an amazing and dazzling 3-D effect. The intensity started to build with fan-slices of salute-terminated commets with shells of salutes and crackling comets above, then dialing back to note sequenced runs of bombettes and then building back up again. Massive scrambling mines filled the sky before barrages of crackle and whistles roared up from ramp 3. Then a pause of smaller effects around minute 27 before building again with more slice cake salutes and brilliant shells above, having everyone think this was the real finale and then dialing down again at minute 29. The slice cake comet salutes returned and were augmented with Panzera thunder candles with barrages of salute shells at mid level and huge colour shells above. Another pause and then the the real finale began and lasted a full minute with silver rain at mid level, massive shells above, huge barrages of 3″ salutes, whistles and a final sky-filling barrage of scrambling comets.

The audience were visibly shaken, as was I, this being the largest finale I can remember in the past 18 years at least, if not ever during my time covering the competition. The packed grandstands erupted into cheers and screams for seemingly minutes. In fact, the team were delayed from returning to the Salon des Artificiers since so many people in the audience wanted to take their pictures with them.

A truly outstanding display that’s absolutely guaranteed to be on the podium this year. Was it perfect? No, it’s impossible. There were a couple of weaknesses such as firing salute-terminated comet slice-cakes during quieter songs where maybe an effect without salutes would have been better. Also, there were no studatas nor girandolas, but every other effect imaginable was used. The soundtrack was much better than I expected with a fantastic variation in rhythm and pace, from moments of serene beauty that brought tears to the eyes to the terrifying finale that caused my video camera to crash with a buffer overflow. The last time this happened was for Pyrotecnico in 2008 … and they are the next up.

On a personal note, it was a thrill to see what Vander a.k.a. reflections_of_earth (which is the name of the music used in the Disney pyromusical shot at Epcot on a daily basis) on my forum was capable of. He had told me in the interview that he had got into fireworks because of my website and he became and avid and insightful critic. Everything I could ever want from a display he included, but in a fashion way better than I could have ever imagined. Truly an outstanding achievement for someone so young (25).

The Immortals

Designed by Alain Carboneau, FireMaster firing with 1200 cues

Another perfect summer’s evening for debutante competitor Apogée and, despite being a Wednesday, a very large audience in the grandstands at La Ronde.

Alain had promised a dramatic start to his display and he did not disappoint, filling the sky at all levels with bright colour and studata shells. The soundtrack was enjoyable, but the length of the songs was a bit unbalance, with shorter segments during the first third of the show (where more than half of the pieces were used) compared to much longer segments in the second two thirds of the display. Some of the transitions between songs seemed a tad clumsy, with just a simple fade-out, whereas others allowed a mini-finale to be created, particularly noteworthy being the one at the end of Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, which was more impressive than the actual finale (more on that later).

On the pyrotechnic side, there was a good diversity of products used, though I found some of the effects, particularly crossettes, to be a bit repetitive, as were the various crackling cakes. Nautical products were quite diverse, but shells were only used once. Good use was made of all levels of the sky, though, as well as the full width of the display. There was certainly more interplay between the levels than in the earlier competing displays this year. The three small towers added to the diversity of firing angles, but the products used on them were a little bit weak and due to the higher level products above, were a little bit lost. The promised special effect for the beginning of Under Pressure didn’t end up being set up as originally intended and so was not really noticeable.

Synchronization was largely excellent with some good sequences of one-shots and other note-synchronized effects. Indeed, it was impressive to know that a relatively low number of cues were used so when tight synchronization was required, it was done well, though this did leave a few other places where it was less evident. The audience certainly appreciated the obviously note-sequenced parts.

The finale was a bit on an enigma. A music mix of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah performed first by Elvis and then Cohen himself naturally tied into the gold kamuro theme established at the start of the almost five minutes long mix. Alain had promised the ending wouldn’t be the classic barrage of salutes and so I expected maybe a final big barrage of horsetail/waterfall shells and may the same type of product in mines and nauticals below. I was a bit surprised when the intensity of the finale diminished and a disappointingly dim kamuro was the final shell fired quite a few seconds before the music finished.

The audience definitely appreciated the display and gave the team an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end. It was well executed with good interplay between the levels and, despite the low cue count by “modern” standards, was an enjoyable display. In many ways, it reminded me of the best displays of the late 1990s / early 2000s – before “one shot madness” became common. It had a much more organic feel and, at the time of writing, is my favourite this year, despite the small issues noted above. Definitely a very good effort by Apogée.

The Butterfly Lovers

Designed by Yong Wang, FirePioneer Firing with ~3200 cues.

The debutante team from China were treated to perfect weather conditions, both during their five day setup and on night of the display. A gentle wind was just enough to move the smoke away from the audience.

This display was unusual that essentially a single piece of music was used for the soundtrack, though it is believe some editing was done to allow for a more dramatic finale than the complete piece of music would have suggested. As promised, the music was clearly traditionally Chinese but performed with a western-style orchestration.

The fireworks complimented the music very well and creative use was made of slice-cakes to really fit with sweeping violin or harp sequences in the music. The supporting shells were also good and the audience appreciated a mini-finale around the mid point of the display. The quality of the pyrotechnic material was also very good, with a fairly wide range of products, though the colour palette tended to default to white red and green, though there were some very good bright blues (in crossettes). The nautical effects were also good, with some mines to crossettes that filled the lake, as well as many different kinds of bengals and nautical fountains. Synchronization was also excellent, though some of the cakes in later parts of the display ran on a bit long and bled into the next musical sequence.

The overall design was fairly conservative, though good use was made of the width of the display. However, the waterfall was a little bit on the short side, though it burned cleanly and completely.

The audience definitely enjoyed the display, giving the team loud applause at the end, though it’s not clear how well the audience connected to the music and the underlying story. All in all, though, a good display for a debutante company!

Let’s Dance

Designed by Nikolaus Langer, PyroDigit Firing with 5255 cues.

The debutante team from Austria were treated to perfect weather conditions, both during their  five day setup and on night of the display. Despite it being a Wednesday, La Ronde had a large attendance of around 21,000 people, according to official sources. The designer, Nikolaus Langer, is the second youngest in the history of the competition at 24 years old, just one year older than Nikola Koletic who won silver for Croatia in 2013 and five years younger than three-times Gold Jupiter winner Yanick Roy, who took the top prize in 2003 at the age of 29.

The theme of the display was essentially the evolution of dance, and featured many styles distributed over sixteen musical pieces. Given the nature of dance, it’s rather challenging to design a soundtrack that features difference tempi, but steyrFire managed to do this fairly successfully. One criticism that could be made is that some of the pieces were a tad long and there were a few different types of transition between the pieces with some featuring mini-finales but others with more of a fade out. However, all the music was enjoyable and well chosen.

The display was definitely heavily biased towards low-level one-shot effects, with scarcely any shells at all during the opening piece of music. This must have been a bit disconcerting for the audience outside La Ronde. There were many interesting patterns used across ramp three, but, as is the case with one-shots, eventually the patterns end up being repeated (even though the actual pyrotechnic effect may differ). This was the case with this display. As there were fewer shells used than the typical displays in competition at La Ronde, this lead to the feeling that some of the segments were either unbalanced or lacked power, though, in other portions of the display, the shell sequences were powerful and sky-filling with excellent large calibre shells. Particularly memorable was a sequence of silver rain shells with mines below fired from ramp 5 that both filled the sky from above and gave the feeling of a moving curtain of sparks in front.

An anticipated segment was that to the music of Y.M.C.A. which was supposed to be augmented by mines firing the letters from ramp 5. Unfortunately, even though the letter sequence was fired four times, really only the “C” and “A” could be clearly seen as the shape they were supposed to be. As this was also a long song, it was unfortunate that all the letters were fired at the beginning.

In general, the products used reflected the type of music well (with tourbillons and farfalles during “The Twist”) and the choice of colours (which were always very vivid) worked well too. Two 30m high lifts were used to fire 360 degree patterns (or 180 degrees) and these worked well, though the sequences used in some cases were very similar to those from ramp 3, giving the impression that ramp 3 was somehow just higher in the air.

The audience was very enthusiastic throughout the display and gave the team a loud standing ovation after the exciting finale. Overall, it was a very good display, especially given their debutante status, but a few points were missed here and there in terms of repetition of firing patters and weak shell support sometimes as well as lack of nautical products (though there was a sequence of stars skipping across the water in front of ramp 3). Definitely a company to watch and hopefully we will see them in Montreal again!

Perfect weather and a large crowd were witness to the latest opening in the history of the competition. Some people like the shorter season but many of us old timers liked a longer competition that would start at the beginning of June and run until the end of July. There’s no perfect formula and the weather is a risk no matter – though this year it was the heat that made life difficult for the Royal team working in record temperatures to set up this first show.

The design was very well executed and, in typical Royal style, the soundtrack was mixed with seamless transitions between the pieces which made for a non-stop show. It’s not an easy task to assemble and interesting display from the music of only one artist, but this was achieved with a good balance between slower, more lyrical pieces, and the disco-style for which ABBA are well known. Good use was made of all the display space with some interesting nautical crossette effects. Synchronization was excellent throughout and there were some nice surprises for the audience with close-proximity gerbs firing right in front of the section of the seating closest to the lake.

Whilst not in competition, this was a very well done display that certainly entertained the audience with a good variety of effects including some interesting pattern shells of the Japanese character Doraemon as well as butterflies in both cakes and shells. The weather cooperated and there was just enough wind to move the smoke to the right of the La Ronde audience. Regular forum contributor and blogger Mylène Salvas, who is also a licenced pyro, was also on the crew!

I met with Eric Cardinal, designer of the fireworks for the special closing show, along with La Ronde technical director, Paul Csukassy, who had put together the soundtrack.

Paul told me he had been inspired by senior pyrotechnician, François Leger, as he had toured with Harmonium “back in the day”. Working together with Harmonium frontman, Serge Fiori as well as founding bassist, Louis Valois, they spent time in Serge’s studio putting together the special tribute soundtrack. Paul said there was a lot of back and forth and Eric noted that he didn’t have the final soundtrack in his hands until mid June, though he’d heard drafts up until that point.

With a busy schedule for GFA this year, particularly in Ontario where they did a show on the CN Tower as well as many others in the area, Eric said he didn’t have time to start working on the design of the show until around July 13th. Fortunately, with GFA being local, all the products they needed were already in stock.

Eric said the show will be composed of around 3500 products and, due to the nature of the music, will be more of a show of shells rather than a one-shot dominated show. He noted that ramp 2, in particular, is very large with seven positions and that there are over 2000 shells in the show. Cue count reflects the lower number of one-shots with around 2600. All ramps will be used and Eric noted that the show fill feature a lot of large nautical shells, with calibres up to 150mm that “will take your hat off”. Another interesting feature of the display is the use of a lot of mines on ramp 3, with calibres up to 125mm. Mines seem to have fallen out of favour in recent years with competitors favouring one-shots. These are available as mine-effects, but usually no larger than 60 or 75mm – so mines of 125mm calibre should provide some dramatic effects.

Eric and Paul both said they enjoyed working on the show and it should be an enjoyable conclusion to the 33rd edition of the competition!